The Official Final Fantasy Group

Square Enix's flagship series has been so influential to the genre that it's almost synonymous with RPG. Use this space to share your favorite Final Fantasy moments or gossip about the happenings in Vana'diel. What's your favorite Final Fantasy?

Final Fantasy 13 doesn't Suck!

Is it the best in the series? No. Is it a good game? Yes. While I only enjoyed some of the characters, the combat did it for me, since it's incredibly satisfying. Tell me when you beat Barthandelus you didn't yell "Yes!"

The problem with FFXIII is the story, that is not to say the story is bad, it just wasn't really appropriate for a video game, specifically for an old school RPG where grinding is basically necessary.

The reason I say this is because the key theme in FFXIII is internal struggle to decide between saving oneself or saving a larger group. This would make a great story if it had been a book, where the character's internal thoughts and emotions could have been described, but in a video game, or movie or play for that matter, the only messages that can be conveyed are ones that are conveyed through dialogue or body language and this is the reason that most books that are made into movies are better than the movies that are made after them. The deep internal struggle to which the ad campaign for the game referred simply was not presented well.

The second reason that this theme doesn't fit in video games, particularly RPGs is because if I am going to invest, 50+ hours into a game, I need to feel like there's a purpose to it, but for most of the time you spend playing FFXIII the majority of the cast isn't even decided on what they want to do. If the characters in the game are beginning to seriously consider not beating the final boss even if it means turning into a mindless husk, then why should I want to beat the final boss? What about those extra bosses that you don't have to beat but give you crazy items or you just want to beat out of a sense of pride but you have to do an extra 20-30 hours of grinding just to stand a chance against them?

The fact of the matter is that the story was a good one, a very good one, but it just didn't work well as a video game story, and the story is more important to RPGs than any other type of game, so if the story of an RPG is not received well, the game will not be received well. That being said, now that I've beaten the game and know that the final boss is worth beating, I could see myself playing through the game again and enjoying it much more than the first time around. Also, I really enjoyed the battle system, it kept me focused and interested in the combat even if I didn't get to control the whole party. The paradigm shift method of using strategy my have seemed like combat was dumbed down as opposed to controlling every single action everyone in your party takes, but I felt like it was more strategic than older systems. Does a general tell every single soldier when to move, when to take cover and when to fire? No, he sends troops trained in certain ways into specific areas where they can be the most effective and he lets their training prove it's worth. The only part of the old combat systems that I enjoyed more was that I could lift weights during battle sequences.

FF fans don't hate 13. They hate aspects of it. They hate not being able to change your party for a lengthy period of the game. They hate not being able to do sidequests until more than halfway through the game. They hate the disappointing ending.

Thankfully 13-2 fixed some of these issues... aside from the ending.

"I'm a dude, playin' a dude, disguised as anotha dude! You a dude that don't know what dude he is!" -Robert Downey Jr. in Tropic Thunder

The story was a little confusing, but I had sort of watched the story, missing chunks of it, but altogether, it was a great game! I don't see why everyone hates it so much. I mean was it the best game? No. Was it still good? YES!!!! People shouldn't be so hard on it!